


we have different heartbeats (but all the same heartbreak)

by tsuzurao



Category: The Crooked Man (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Canonical Character Death, Choking, First Meetings, Ghosts, M/M, Nightmares, Slash, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4600578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuzurao/pseuds/tsuzurao
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I want you to stay with me, David."</p>
            </blockquote>





	we have different heartbeats (but all the same heartbreak)

**Author's Note:**

> title from "slowly" by susanne sundfør, which is not a song that fits with this fic in the least.

           The first thing David notices about the man in the next door apartment is the circle of dull black bruises around his neck. David doesn't mean to stare so openly, but the rough, jagged shape keeps his eyes trapped in place. Words he originally meant to say die in his throat before he can even open his mouth.

           "Can I help you?" the man asks, hand still on the doorknob, looking at David with a creased brow.

           "Oh." David forces his eyes back up with a jerk. "Do you," he says, finishing his sentence by touching his own neck.

           The furrow in the man's brow deepens. "Do I what?" he asks.

           "Um." David clears his throat. "Nothing," he replies. He sticks his hand out toward the man. "I'm David."

           The man looks at David's hand before slowly reaching out to shake it. His hand is cold. "Duke."

 

           "Flunked out of flight school, huh," Duke says. He walks around the couch to sit down and hand a glass of water to David. "That must have been hard."

           "I didn't _flunk out_ ," David says back, his face flushing. The chill of the glass does nothing to quell the heat he suddenly feels. "I just can't see a few colors, that's all."

           Duke hums. He looks across the room at the bare wall before turning to David. "Don't worry about it. I messed up on something like that, too."

           "Oh, yeah?" David asks, shifting to lean further on the couch's arm.

           "Yeah," Duke says, his voice lower than before. "So what made you decide to get an apartment here?" he asks, going back to normal pitch.

           David twists his mouth at the change in topic, but chooses not to comment. "My friends thought it might be good for me," he says.

           "Has it been?" Duke asks.

           David shrugs. His eyes go to the bruises on Duke's neck for a moment then look at the glass in his hand. "I don't know yet. I've only been here for a few days." He sighs. "I didn't have much say in the move, anyway."

           "Ah," Duke says. "Well, it's not too bad. I've been living here for a long time myself."

           "Oh, really?" David asks, brows raised. "How long?"

           There's a pause and then Duke laughs. "It's funny, actually, I don't remember," he says.

           David laughs with him, taking a glance at his watch when he falls quiet and placing the still full glass on the table in front of him. "You know, I better go before it gets too late," he says, standing up with a stretch.

           Duke also stands, guiding David to the front door. "All right, if you say so." He looks at David, a small sliver of his white teeth peeking out, scraping over some of his bottom lip for just a second. He's leaned against the door frame, hip cocked out. "You can come over again if you like."

           David nods. "Okay."

 

           A nightmare wakes David at exactly midnight. He stares at the ceiling with wide, dry eyes, seeing almost nothing in the darkness of his apartment.

           He feels another set of eyes on him. He doesn't dare look for the source. He doesn't dare close his eyes.

 

           David wakes up from the same nightmare the next night at midnight. And the night after that. And the night after that.

           This continues on for a week.

 

           "Wow, David," Duke says, leaning in to get a closer look at David, even going so far as to squint his eyes. "You look awful. Are you okay?"

           David is so tired he doesn't bother to stop himself from staring at the ring of bruises on Duke's neck. "I haven't been sleeping well," he says. "Which is why I'm here now, actually. You wouldn't happen to have something to help me sleep, would you?"

           Duke shakes his head, a corner of his lips bent down. "I don't. Sorry."

           "Oh," David says. Duke's bruises blur in his dried out vision, his feet suddenly feeling much heavier than they did moments ago. "It's fine. Thank you."

           "Do you want to come inside?" Duke asks, holding the door open wider.

           David looks up from the ring of bruises. "I couldn't, not right now. I'd be terrible company."

           Duke lifts up a hand. "I'm not letting you walk back like this." He pushes the door completely open, motioning inside the living room with his head. "Come in."

           David sighs.

 

           In his nightmare, he sees someone with a mangled neck and black, empty eyes. They reach out to him with a large hand and grin, showing off a set of yellowed teeth.

           There's never anything else after that; David always wakes up before the hand can do anything else.

 

           There's a hand touching his neck when David wakes up. Duke is leaning toward him from above when David finally opens his eyes with a groan.

           Duke smiles. The bruise on his neck looks darker. "You were right - your company was awful," he says.

           David bats Duke's hand away. "How long was I asleep?"

           "About a couple hours," Duke says. He sits down right next to David, looking at him and still smiling. "You sat down on the couch and you were gone before I could offer you a drink."

           David groans again, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. "I'm sorry about this, Duke."

           Wrapping an arm around David, Duke shakes him a little, smile getting even bigger. "Don't apologize. You looked like you needed those two hours so I left you alone," he says.

           "Still, though," David says, palm flat over his eyes and nose. "I should have gone home if I was going to sleep."

           David feels fingers tightly grab his wrist and pull his hand away. He meets Duke's eyes. They're almost the same color as the ones in his nightmare.

           "I said it's okay." His grip on David's wrist loosens, but his fingers smooth out, holding David much more gently. "I honestly don't mind if you sleep on my couch."

           David swallows around the lump in his throat, his mouth dry and tongue suddenly too heavy to form words. He licks his lips. Duke watches. His smile is gone.

           "I think I should leave," David says.

           Duke releases his wrist, the now free hand coming up to curl over his jaw, fingers slip around the back of his neck and into his hair. Sliding closer and crowding him against the arm of the couch, Duke asks, "Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

           "No," David answers. The skin on his face starts to feel warm, his sides also heating up from being between Duke and the couch. "But. We just met last week."

           "I know," Duke says. He presses closer to David, his chest a firm line up David's side. "Do you really want to leave?"

           "No," Davids answers just before his lips are taken by Duke.

 

           A knock at the door wakes him instead of a nightmare, and for a moment David lets himself sag in bed without opening his eyes. It's ten minutes to midnight when he finally opens his eyes and crawls out of bed, foregoing the option to put on a shirt. He pads his way out of the living room and into the hallway, flicking on the light. Unlocking the door and pulling on it enough to see outside through a crack, David blinks a little in surprise.

           "This might sound silly, but," Duke says, standing at the door in a similar state of undress. "I can't sleep," he finishes with a crooked smile and a puff of breath. "And I was wondering if, um. If I could stay with you for the night."

           Duke shifts his weight from one foot to the other, the wooden floor giving a muted creak in response. David watches the curve of Duke's right hip slide outward, outlined by the band of his boxers, and swallows. Face burning, he asks, "Are you sure you'll be able to sleep here? I don't have a lot of room."

           "It's worth a shot," Duke says. His eyes shine in the dim hallway light. "Please?"

           David's mouth goes dry for a second time. "Okay."

 

           "Are you sure you don't want to sleep on the couch instead?" David says, his voice a pitch higher than normal as Duke makes himself comfortable on David's chest.

           "I'll never be able to sleep on _that_ couch," Duke says. His hair tickles David's throat, and he tries to shift himself into a better position. "Can you stop squirming, though? Neither of us will get to sleep if you don't."

           David rubs his legs together under the covers. "I'm trying," he says, "but you're really cold."

           Duke hums back. "And you're really warm," Duke breathes into David's chest, snuggling closer. David shivers from it and the chill attached to Duke's skin.

 

           A hand around his neck brings David to consciousness, gasping and kicking up with his legs, the sheets falling to the floor.

           Straddling him and holding him down but the throat is Duke, his neck mangled and a smile stretched unnaturally on his upside down head. David makes a sound that wants to be a scream, but gets stuck when Duke's hand squeezes tighter. His chest heaves up and down, trying to get air and wheezing with the effort. Above him, Duke laughs, deep and hollow, and his smile gets wider.

           David chokes, the inside of his throat contracting hard enough to hurt. "W-Why?" he manages to force out around the pressure of Duke's large hand.

           Duke's black and empty eyes stare at him. His grin stays in place. "I want you to stay with me, David."

           Duke's hand gets tighter around David's throat.

           "I don't want to be alone anymore."

**Author's Note:**

> please feel free to follow and talk to me at these places!!
> 
> tumblr: [yukinoyayoi](http://yukinoyayoi.tumblr.com/)  
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